19 September 2009

"Claiming it to be one of the most dramatic and visible signs of climate change to date, researchers said Monday that receding polar ice caps have revealed nearly 200 clandestine lairs... once buried deep beneath hundreds of feet of Arctic ice."

18 September 2009

17 September 2009

"This wonderful self-catering house is suitable for families and couples, sleeps six and is entirely off-grid: meaning it isn’t connected to any mains utility lines such as gas or electricity. It produces all of its electric power with solar panels and wind turbines. In the event of the end of civilisation, in theory one could survive here - once they get the vegetable patch and chicken coup up and running that is."

"There are two main elements that are changing things. One is the younger generation, which is pretty comfortable with technology and doesn’t regard it as inherently evil. So something like synthetic biology or genetic engineering looks like something they can figure out and put to use. And when it comes to nuclear engineering, they don’t remember the Cold War or Chernobyl. The other element is climate change. It was taken seriously early and often by environmentalists, and they’re now living with the consequences of having been right about it. They paid attention to climatologists, to the scientists, to the IPCC, so they are more comfortable with a scientific approach on other issues."

"The Social Democratic Party in Germany, the Labor Party in Britain, the New Democratic Party in Canada, the Socialist Party in France, and others, despite their original emancipatory visions, barely qualify today as even liberal parties in which a Franklin D. Roosevelt or a Harry Truman would have found a comfortable home."

"Whatever social ideals these parties may have had generations ago has been eclipsed by the pragmatics of gaining, holding, and extending their power in their respective parliamentary and ministerial bodies."

"It is precisely such parliamentary and ministerial objectives that we call “politics” today. To the modern political imagination, “politics” is precisely a body of techniques for holding power in representative bodies – notably the legislative and executive arenas – not a moral calling based on rationality, community, and freedom."

STRAY SOD

A Stray Sod is an enchanted clump of grass.

When one steps on the clump, it triggers a magic spell and under the influence of this spell, all the familiar landmarks have disappeared. The road you walked upon is suddenly gone and no matter how hard you look, it can not be seen again.

In other cases, a traveler can suddenly notice that he is walking in a completely different direction, and no matter which way he turns, he cannot find the right direction again.